Early in the morning I joined the Tempe Birdos at the Tempe Wetlands for their monthly bird survey. It was nice to observe a reasonable number of birds at the Wetlands.
Striated Heron searching for food at the Boat Harbour, Cooks River
Here are some of the birds we saw early on –
Red Wattlebird
Dusky Moorhens
I was grateful for Birdos member, Melissa, explaining how to tell Welcome Swallows and Fairy Martins apart. These birds fly very fast just above the water searching for insects to eat. They are hard to photograph and hard to tell apart. The key is to look for a white square on their backs – if they have it, then they are Fairy Martins. We saw both on the day and photos clearly show this difference.
Welcome Swallow
Welcome Swallow
Fairy Martin
Fairy Martin
While I was with the Birdos, at the upper pool, several members spotted a Rail type bird foraging on the far side. I missed seeing it and so didn’t get any photos. Previously, one month earlier, a Buff-banded Rail had been seen at the middle pool. The people who saw this one confirmed it was a Rail, but which one? The consensus seemed to be a Lewin’s Rail.
We then continued with the survey, and spotted quite a few other birds, some of which I was able to photograph –
New Holland Honeyeater
Australasian Figbird (female)
After morning tea at Tempe Reserve, which concluded the Birdos meeting, I headed back to the Wetlands to stakeout the upper pool to see if I could photograph the Rail. I waited around 30 minutes but had no luck.
I had the rest of the day free, and wanted to check out the birds up the Cooks River, so cycled upstream. Near Gough Whitlam Park a large flock of Corellas were squawking on the grass. More were joining them. It was interesting to see that many of the birds that flew in had bits of vegetation in their beaks –
I continued on to the Boat Harbour. There I spotted a Striated Heron hating for food. I sat quietly watching it and taking photos as it hunted in the mudflats of the Boat Harbour.
While I was watching, I was joined by Barney, who lives in arose nearby. he was just returning from a Mudcrabs activity. We then looked for the Tawny Frogmouth family nearby. We quickly spotted them – one parent by itself and the other nearby sitting close to a chick. It seems that they have now left the nest, and this year there is only one chick. The past few years they have raised two chicks.
After taking photos of the Tawnies, I returned to the Boat Harbour to watch the Pelicans that had just landed. One of them had picked up a feather, and then a most amazing “dance” took place as they passed around the feather – hard for them to do with their huge cumbersome beaks. This game or dance lasted quite a while.
Before cycling home, I visited the Cup and Saucer Creek Wetlands. I spotted a turtle on their usual rock –
And nearby were the Dusky Moorhen chicks –
In Cup and Saucer Creek, a White faced Heron was looking for food. As I approached, it flew up onto the railing – and then puffed up its feathers –
